A History of The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts: What makes it the event we know today?

As I live only half an hour away from the festival grounds and can hear its music from my house, which in itself tells you just how big the event is, I decided to do some research into why this festival is one of the biggest of its kind in the world. In addition to the information available both in books and online, a documentary (see reference 1) was broadcast in 2000 that provides an in depth history of the festival. Alongside this, I did work experience for the Marketing Director of the 40^th anniversary festival in 2010, giving me a better understanding of the mechanics of the festival and compelling my interest further.

In 1970 on the day after Jimi Hendrix died Michael Eavis, a Somerset dairy farmer, set up what was to be the first of many Glastonbury festivals. With a considerably large number of hippies and locals turning up, 1500 people paid £1 to enjoy the sounds of Marc Bolan and drink Eavis’ fresh cow’s milk from his dairy. The festival, despite being the start of something that would later be known worldwide, was a complete financial disaster. However, news somehow spread to London where Andrew Kerr, at that time Randolph Churchill’s personal assistant, thought something could be made of the event. Joined by Winston Churchill’s granddaughter Arabella, the company Solstice Capers was formed and with Kerr’s help the festival enjoyed another year. This time it was free and around 12,000 people turned up to hear David Bowie and others on the first ever pyramid stage. After that, it wasn’t until 1979 when the festival was given another go, and despite a £5 entry fee it again resulted in financial disaster and Eavis having to take out a loan using the deeds to his farm. After another year without the event 1981 saw the first real Glastonbury Festival. I say real, as this time it had a purpose; disarmament.

However whilst the numbers of attendees through the ten years leading up to the nineties were ever increasing, the political motives of the festival began to see rising government influence. Violence and riot squads were then involved, with Eavis’ now running what was seen as a left wing political movement. This however did not stop the festival, as throughout the nineties this subsided to provide an original image of the festival today. In 2000 it saw its biggest numbers yet, but this was not a positive factor for the festival Gatecrashers of Glastonbury 2000 doubled the licensed capacity to an estimated 200,000 people on site, leading to the cancellation of Glastonbury 2001, due to increased safety fears in the wake of the Roskilde tragedy and prosecution of the organiser for alleged breach of licence. Since then, the event has become far more domesticated and safe, with numbers still rising but in a controlled and successful manner.

In my opinion, what makes Glastonbury what it is today is the personality built up over decades of different generations. This could not be more clearly displayed by what I witnessed on my 2010 visit to the festival. On the final day, as I was helping with the clearing up around the ‘Stone Circle’, a friend and I found an odd, hidden path leading past a wooded mound of earth. Looking closer, this mound had a small hole on the side, only around a metre tall. Curious, we went inside, only to find we were crawling into a large underground amphitheatre built of wood and earth with a very different crowd to normal festival goers looking down on us. After some commotion, we were allowed to sit and enjoy one of the most peculiar and unorganised shows I have ever seen, involving a real army veteran in full combats and other very strange characters.  After the show, they made their way to another opening at the back of the room, so again curious we decided to follow.

It was there that we witnessed the true personality of the festival; permanent Glastonbury festival residents. These people have somehow been allowed to camp here for as long as 20 years, thriving as a natural community and providing a base for the personality that creates ‘the Glastonbury experience’. To me, that summed up exactly how and why it is the way it is today.

 References:

1.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kG0wqiJlXo accessed on the 20^th November 2011.

2.       http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/history/1986/ accessed on the 20^th of November 2011.

3.       Successful Events Management Third Edition by Anton Shone and Bryn Parry, published in Great Britain by Cengage Learning in 2010.

4.       Events Management Third Edition by Glenn Bowden, Johnny Allen, William O’Toole, Rob Harris and Ian McDonnel, published in Great Britain by Elsevier Ltd. in 2011.

Images:

1.       http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2055881.stm accessed on the 20^th November 2011.

2.       http://brentleeregan.blogspot.com/2011/08/glastonbury-2011-unassimilated-review.html accessed on the 20^th November 2011.

3.       http://www.sophiebarker.com/hello-glastonbury/ accessed on the 20^th November 2011.

Video:

1.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2bXzuB7sZw accessed on the 20^th November 2011.